So, I’m going to suggest, in no particular order, some commonly seen (and correctable) new guy mistakes and errors:
Putting your airplane’s Center of Lift (CoL) too close to (or in front of) it’s Center of Mass (CoM). Your plane will gain speed as it hurtles down the runway, then suddenly back flip. Flight test your creations first. If they can’t fly, fix them, it’s easy! Here’s how: In the designer, press the little icon that looks like a balanced weight, you’ll see a red vertical line and a blue vertical line. Make sure the red line is further to the front of the build than the blue line. About 2 SP units (1 meter) forward seems to be a good starting point. If it’s not then either move the wings (CoL) further back, or add fuel or deadweight to the front of the build and move the CoM forward. Easy.
Airplanes won’t, or can’t, takeoff. There you are, hurtling down the runway, 300, 400, 500 miles per hour, stick all the way back and...nothing...the plane goes airborne at the end of the runway because the ground drops away. Ok, airplanes don’t fly that way and here’s why: Landing gear is never placed at the very back of the airplane. I have no idea why new guys seem to like placing the main landing gear soooo far back on their build. In RL, they are placed pretty close to the Center of Gravity (CoG) so that the elevator has the leverage necessary to rotate the airplane’s weight around the landing gear, lift the nose in the air, increase lift and go airborne at a reasonable speed (usually less than 200 mph).
If you’re still with me, here’s my third gripe: So many slapped-together builds thrown onto the site. It’s fun, sure, but it doesn’t take long to polish your build. Here’s the good news, if you take the time to follow tips 1 and 2 above, your build will be better than 3/4 of the builds posted every day (that may be an exaggeration; but you get the point). Plus they’ll actually fly...and probably fairly well. So, please, spend a few minutes to build, test, then post a quality build!
Fly safe!
I got to send this to a LOT of people
So that’s why all my early planes took off at the end of the runway.
Ah. You indeed thought of it before Scott and before I exsisted. @ChiChiWerx
@BaconAircraft funny, hadn’t thought about it that way, you’re right Scott Manley does say that at the end of his videos. I say it because my T-37 pilot training flight commander used to say it at the end of his morning briefings around 25 years ago. I subsequently used it to close my briefings....soooo...I thought if it first!!!!
@Razor3278 yes, agree with both those comments, thought about adding them, but wanted to keep it to three succinct points. But thanks for the input!
You might want to add that people should actually make an effort to add a description that at least tell us if it uses any special controls. I often see good builds without descriptions. Better screenshots too.
F l y s a f e
scott manly YouTube ending music plays
This is all true, but the fact that you build your plane and protest, and it will be more popular than 3/4 of the other collections, this is not always true. The latter, my planes did not gain almost any popularity (except for the first and fourth), but this is less than I always get it, and when I make airplanes, they always fly perfectly.
this is the exact reason I post multiple versions of planes to be able to get everything perfect on the final one @ChiChiWerx
I agree with number 2. I worked that out when I was like 4 lol
Thank you awesome sir. We joined three months ago, and still noob